Flirting With Death Part One
by Skrain Dukat
Summary: Gil Grissom has been abducted and left to die. Will his team be able to find him, or will he become a murder victim?
1. Chapter 1

Gilbert Grissom awoke to darkness. His limbs were heavy, and he was alert, but felt groggy, as though he'd been whacked in the head with a baseball bat. Slowly, he sat up, holding his forehead in pain. He had a terrible migraine. He peered around, but could see only black.

"Hello?" he asked weakly, testing his voice. "Is anybody here?"

The air was hot and sticky, which he knew meant that there was water nearby. He felt around the area he'd been laying in. Despite the heat of the air, the surface was cold. Ice cold. And very smooth, like a freshly waxed floor. There was a large, soft piece of cloth next to him; a blanket, he guessed. His head had been resting on something soft and... fluffy. 'A pillow, maybe?' he guessed. 'But why?'

He stood up, only to be blinded by the sudden opening and closing of what appeared to be a trapdoor, high above his head. "Hey!" he cried, "Anyone there?! Help!" He received no answer. Something fell with a crash and a few subsequent thuds underneath where the trapdoor had opened, and then silence. It was purely black again.

Gil's phone rang, echoing in the darkness. He jumped, startled, then fished it out of his pocket. The caller ID read "Unknown". He opened the phone and asked, "Hello?"

"Dr. Grissom. Have you figured out where you are yet?" a gruff voice replied. Gil was confused.

"Who is this?"

"It doesn't matter, Grissom. You'll never see me--or anyone else, for that matter--again." A row of lights flashed on, fifty or more feet behind him. "Are you enjoying this? You like puzzles, so solve this one! You have seventy-two hours worth of food and water, but only, what, one day's worth of cell phone charge? Less? Tsk, tsk, Grissom, you were so easy to pick off. You won't be nearly so easy to rescue. Your friends will find that out. Bye, CSI guy." The line went dead.

'Oh no, please,' Gil pleaded, silently, panicking for once in his life. 'I can't be victim to abduction. Not now.'

He turned around, looking through the faint light given off by the row of lights. He couldn't see any walls, which meant that if he was in a basement, it couldn't possibly be very sturdy, and if he were above ground, he could be in any large building.

He listened intently, trying to hear anything that might clue him in; a generator, air conditioner, or anything else electrical that was housed outside.

It was to no avail. He heard only silence and his own breathing. He sat back down on what he was now sure was the floor and pulled out his phone. He knew that all the criminalists' cell phones had GPS chips in them, and if he called anyone at the lab, chances were he would be found. But he only had two bars of battery life left, and anything more than a two minute conversation would be pushing the limits of his battery.

He decided to walk toward the row of lights and try to find a wall. Because if he found a wall, chances were he could find a ladder or some stairs. At least that's what he hoped.

!!

It was nearing the beginning of the graveyard shift at the Clark County Forensics Lab, and the supervisor was nowhere to be found. This struck his team as odd; Grissom was usually the first of them to get to work every night.

"Hey, Ecklie, have you seen Grissom?" Catherine Willows, the beautiful but aging redhead of the team, asked as she passed him in the hall.

"No. Then again, I don't really keep tabs on him, you know, I have my own shift to watch, Catherine. He's probably off staring at some 'wonderful, amazing!' species of spider that inhabits the entire country or something." Conrad Ecklie, the day shift supervisor, continued on his way without stopping.

"...Well, thanks anyway," Catherine called after him. She continued to make her way through the lab, stopping periodically to ask lab rats if they'd seen or heard from Grissom yet.

"Hodges, you seen Grissom?" She knew she was getting a little desperate.

"Well, I hate to state the obvious, but why haven't you just tried calling him?" was Hodges' reply.

Catherine was actually almost stunned. She hadn't thought to try calling him. She whipped her cell phone out and hit Grissom's speed dial button, all the while laughing at herself for having her boss on speed dial.

!!

Grissom jumped at the echoed noise of his phone ringing. It was so quiet, he'd gotten used to the silence to the point where he thought he was deaf. It took him a moment to register that it was his cell phone and to answer it.

"Grissom," he said without checking the caller ID.

"Gil? You're late for work, you know that, right?" Catherine asked, relieved to hear his voice.

"Catherine!" Gil exclaimed, ecstatic to hear a familiar voice. He'd been afraid to call anyone because of his battery. "There isn't much time. I've... I've been abducted. I don't know where I am and my cell phone is almost dead."

"You're joking, right?"

"No, Catherine, you have to get the team together right now. Search my phone's GPS, I don't know how much longer it will stay on."

"Wait, Gil, you're serious? Where are you?"

"I have to get off the phone, the battery is low. Please find me." He felt horrible having to hang up. He was truly afraid for his life. He knew how much work it was trying to find a missing CSI, how afraid Nick had been. How afraid he'd been for Nick. His team were like brothers, sisters, and children to him. He knew they were capable of finding him, he just didn't know if they would find him in time.

'And what about Sara?' he thought. 'I don't even have enough cell phone power to call her if the lab is going to use the GPS in my phone. I can't call her. If I don't make it out of here alive, I-'

His phone rang again. He stared at it, waiting for the caller ID. It was Nick. He picked up and answered, "Grissom."

"Boss, Cath said you've been abducted. Are you all right? Where are you? Can you tell us anything?" Nick asked, talking a mile a minute.

"Nick, slow down. You need to go to the lab and search my GPS unit in my phone."

"We tried that, you aren't showing up anywhere in Nevada. We're going to search surrounding states but we can't promise that it will pick you up. Do you think you're underground?"

"I could be. Nick, my battery is almost dead, I'm down to less than one bar here."

"Hold on, boss, we'll find you. I promise."

"Nick, can you do me a favor, if you can't find me..." He sighed, "Can you tell Sara what happened?" He could tell that Nick was surprised that he'd been chosen to tell Sara the bad news, should it turn into bad news. "Please, Nick."

"Yeah boss. I'll do it. For now you just focus on staying alive. We'll be getting you out of there very soon. I promise."

"Thanks, Nick."

The phone went dead.

"Grissom? GRISSOM?"


	2. Chapter 2

Nick Stokes contorted his face, trying not to let tears escape his eyes as he closed his phone. Gilbert Grissom was like a father to him, he'd been the one there when Nick had been pulled out of the ground after he was kidnapped, and now he was in danger. He didn't want Grissom to get hurt. He couldn't live with himself if anything happened.

"Nick, did you get ahold of Grissom?" Greg asked as he came bounding in. Nick nodded. "Well? It's a hoax, right? He's not really... missing, is he?" There was a certain softness to his voice that Nick noticed. "He isn't, is he?"

Nick sighed, wiping his eyes. "He said… He said he doesn't know if he's underground or above, that his cell phone was dying and that…" He trailed off.

"And?" Greg asked, urgently.

"And that if we don't find him, I am supposed to call Sara and tell her what happened. Greg, I couldn't do that, it'd break Sara's heart!"

"That's why we need to get as much information off your cell phone from that call as we can." He held his hand out to Nick, expectantly. Nick handed him the phone. "We'll find him. We have to." With that, Greg hurried out of the office to get the phone to Archie. Nick leaned on the door frame, wiping his face with one swift motion of his hand.

"Hey, Nick, Grissom call you down to his office?" a familiar voice called from behind him. He felt the tears well up again as he realized who the voice belonged to. He turned around. "Well, are you going to say hello or just stand there, Nick?" Sara Sidle asked, a goofy smile spreading across her face as she held a small aquarium with a rather large tarantula inside it, "What do you think? Think Grissom will like it?" She stepped forward and gave him a friendly hug.

"Hi, Sara," Nick mumbled, "There- We-"

"What's wrong?" Sara asked, "Where's Gil, anyway?"

"Look, Sara-" he started. Catherine turned down the hallway they were now in and came racing down toward them.

"Oh, Sara, thank God, we need your help!"

"What, what's going on?"

"Sara, we- Grissom's been abducted, we don't know where he is or who took him," Nick blurted. Catherine and Sara both looked at him, shocked. Catherine more so for him just blurting it like that.

Sara kept the same smile on her face, though worry shone through in her eyes, as she asked, "You're not serious, right? Where is he?"

"Sara, come with me, we're going to need to ask you a few questions," Catherine replied gently. Sara's smile quickly turned to a frown. Catherine put her hand on Sara's shoulder and gently led her past Nick and into Grissom's office. "Nick, go check with Greg and see if they've gotten anything yet from your phone's data."

Nick headed off down the hall to the sound analysis lab to find Archie and Greg hunched over a computer, listening to what sounded like Grissom's voice. "What're you doi-"

"SHHHHH We found another call that Grissom took before you and Cath called him," Archie hissed.

"Sorry!" whispered Nick as he came up behind them.

"_--doesn't matter, Grissom. You'll never see me, or anyone else, for that matter, again. Are you enjoying this? You like puzzles, well solve this one! You have 72 hours worth of food and water, but only, what, one day's worth of cell phone charge? Less? Tsk, tsk, Grissom, you were so easy to pick off. You won't be nearly so easy to rescue, your friends will find that out. Bye, CSI guy._" Nick froze. He'd heard that voice before, he was sure of it, but they were all also sure that whoever had abducted him had blown himself up.

"Wait, what was that noise there, just after he said that part about not seeing anyone again," Greg asked. Archie rewound the tape and replayed it.

"It kinda sounds like he's in a gymnasium, you know, when they turn the lights on at first," he replied.

"That could be it!"

That's too general of a noise, Nick thought.

"Hey, HEY!" Archie exclaimed, looking at another monitor, "Grissom's GPS, it's working! I found it!"

Nick and Greg both lunged the screen, gawking at the blinking blue dot that signified where the GPS was located. "Yes!" They cried in unison, Greg pulling out his phone and Nick taking his from Archie as they dialed Warrick and Catherine.

"WE FOUND HIM!" Greg shouted to Warrick.

"You found him? Whoo!"

"Cath, CATH, we found his GPS signal, get down here right away, we have to go get him."

"Oh thank God, I'll be right down to call Jim and give him the details."

We're coming, Grissom, just a little longer, Nick thought, sighing in relief, three hours into the search and they had already found their missing person. Much shorter than the time it'd taken to find Nick when he was missing.

"You found him?" Sara called, bolting into the lab. Greg pointed to the blue dot on the screen, smiling. "Hurray. I was so worried!"

"You know, he may not be out of the woods just yet. For all we know, the kidnapper could very well have taken the chip out of the phone prior to transporting Gil to wherever he is now." Captain Jim Brass' voice cut into the conversation as he and Catherine entered the room.

"We're going to go out and check it out, Sara; I don't want you to get your hopes up, here. Greg, I want you and Archie to keep analyzing, find out more about whoever took him. Nick-" Catherine started.

"I'm coming with," Nick interjected. Catherine shook her head.

"You're off the case."  
"WHAT?!"

"We don't need you having a Post Traumatic Stress episode, Nicky."

"Oh, come on! I can't believe you'd honestly judge me like that, Cath, that's bullshit!" At this point, Warrick came running in.

"Whoa, Nick, what's going on? Calm down."

"Cath, if any of us knows what Grissom's going through right now, it's me. That's why I need to be there for him when we find him!"

"Nick-" Catherine sighed, "I know how you feel-"  
"No, no you don't, Catherine, you don't know what it's like to be abducted and buried alive in a glass box with a gun. You don't know what it's like to be taken out of your comfort zone and put in some strange person's big fantasy. None of you do. But at least I would hope that you could at least ATTEMPT to understand!" Nick hollered. Warrick put his hand on Nick's shoulder and pulled him down into a chair.

"Nick, you're going to get your ass in trouble if you don't calm down."

"I call bullshit," Nick muttered, snarling.

Everyone had a moment of awkward silence before Jim turned to leave the room. "I'm going to go dispatch the officers, once you all get it settled in here, start heading to the GPS signal."

Catherine pursed her lips and crossed her arms across her chest. "Nick, do you really think you can handle this?"  
"Do you really think I can't?" Nick spat.

"Do not take that tone with me, Nicky, or I will send you home."

"Well if you don't plan on letting me go anyway, I might as well go home," he muttered.  
"Fine, just get up and let's go. Watch it, though. The first sign of extra stress on you and you are going home, you got that?" Catherine growled. Nick jumped up. Sara followed them out.

"I'm coming too," She called.

"Sara, you really shouldn't, you don't know what condition he's in or-"

"I am coming with and you cannot stop me. I love him. I don't care what condition he's in, I need to at least see him."

!!

Gil Grissom finally found a wall, but by the time he reached it he was so overheated that he could hardly stand. It amazed him how his body could rebel so much when he'd lived in a desert for so long. He sank against the wall, just inches out of the reach of the lights above. He could swear that he could see things moving in the darkness beyond the reaches of the light, but without his flashlight he could prove nothing. He just slowly sank down the wall, letting the cold floor touch his arms and hands. It was a soothing feeling.

He saw a small spider scuttle through the beams of light and out through the darkness beyond. This place, wherever it happened to be that he was being held, was quite full of bugs. Had Grissom not been fearing for his life, he might've been more intrigued by the six- and eight-legged wildlife.

But as it was, his cell phone had died, so he'd thrown it out of exasperation, he had no flashlight, no food, no water that he could verify hadn't been poisoned or drugged, no way of escaping. He was so tired.

He felt like just taking a little nap. Just a little one. He was just so tired, he couldn't keep his eyes open. His head began to nod, but before his eyes closed he noticed what looked like a human form stepping through the lights toward him.

"Nick? Cat-Catherine…" He muttered weakly, confused.

Then it all went black.


	3. Chapter 3

A black SUV and four squad cars sped through the desert toward what appeared to be… Nothing. Catherine Willows looked around, anxiously, as they neared their target area. "Grissom's phone signal is coming from near here, but where?" she mumbled, squinting.

Nick Stokes sat in the passenger seat, frantically looking between their current surroundings and a GPS computer that showed their whereabouts in concurrence with Grissom's GPS cell phone. "STOP! The signal's right in front of us! Everybody stop and get out of your vehicles!" He shrieked over the walkie talkie. The group of vehicles backtracked a bit and stopped. The police got out of their cars first, circling and making sure the area was clear, which, it was.

Sara unbuckled her seatbelt and made to leave the car. Nick reached back and grabbed her arm. "Sara, you should wait here until we find something." She glared at him. "Especially in case we find something dangerous." Nick and Catherine ran out to where the signal was coming from and looked around. There was nothing they could see that could be hiding Grissom or his cell phone. Nick kicked the dirt, mostly out of frustration. What he hit was more than just dirt, however. He looked down and saw part of a wooden plank sticking out where he'd kicked. "Cath-" He breathed, kneeling down. Her eyes widened as she knelt next to him. They immediately began brushing dirt away from the wooden plank, revealing more wood, which revealed itself into a makeshift door into the ground.

"JIM! TAPE THE AREA OFF, WE MIGHT HAVE A CRIME SCENE HERE!" Catherine bellowed, standing up. The door had a handle on its left side as she faced it, hinges on its right side. Nick glanced up at her.

"Do you want me to pull it open or do you want to?"

"We should have an officer do it."

Nick shook his head. "If Gil's down there, and this thing's rigged to go up in flames, it won't go off when the door is opened. There's no visible wires, there's no obvious structure beyond this doorframe, but there's definitely something below the door."

"Okay, alright, open it."

Nick backed up a little bit, grabbed the door handle with his gloved hand, and pulled it open, jumping back as he did. Catherine followed suit. Nothing happened. They peered down into the darkness. It wasn't a very deep hole, seven or eight feet at most.

"Grissom?" Catherine called down, "Grissom? Gil?" Her voice echoed through the small cavern. She looked over at Brass. "Have one of your men clear this for us! Hurry!"

Two armed officers came over and peered down into the hole. There was no notable way of getting down into the cavern, so one of them had to spot the other while he lowered himself in. When he could no longer hold onto the sides of the door, and still could not touch the bottom, he had to let himself drop.

"It's not deep, and it's not very wide either," the officer in the hole reported, his gun drawn, "There is something down here though, I think it's a person!" He moved closer to the object in question and Nick and Catherine exchanged worried glances. "It's a—It's a body!" he nudged the body with his boot, "It's a person and she's still alive. We need paramedics, now! I repeat, paramedics, NOW!"

"It's not Grissom. But why is his signal coming from here?" Catherine asked, frustrated.

"There's something else down here, something small, she's got it in her hand! Hold on, paramedics are on their way, you're safe now," the officer said, obviously talking between Catherine and the girl he'd found.

"Whe-" the girl mumbled, rolling over weakly.

"GRISSOM?" Sara shouted, running from her SUV. Catherine looked over her shoulder at her, shaking her head. Sara stopped, dropping her arms to her sides.

Catherine jumped down into the hole and walked over to the girl and the officer. She gently touched her forehead, then gasped and jumped back before shouting, "LINDSEY!" she dove back next to the girl whom she'd just identified as her daughter, pulled her close and held her tight. "Lindsey, oh Lindsey, what happened? Lindsey!" she sobbed. "When did this happen? What happened? Lindsey!"

"What? Lindsey?" Nick jumped down, looking over, horrified.

"The paramedics are on their way. She'll be well taken care of," the officer said as he took Lindsey Willows' pulse. Catherine cradled her daughter, sobbing.

"I thought she was at a sleepover, I thought she was with her friends!" Nick wrapped his arm around the shoulders of his co-worker and held Lindsey's hand. Even as a teenager, she still was that beautiful little girl Cath had introduced to the group eight years ago in his eyes.

This day's just going from horrible to monstrous, Nick thought, shaking his head. He wished Grissom were there, but he was glad that they had stumbled across Lindsey in the process. He remembered what the cop had said and felt the hand of Lindsey's that he was holding. Sure enough, there was a small piece of metal. Grissom's GPS chip. Had he left this as a clue?

!!

Gilbert felt a low, throbbing pain surging through his body as he slowly regained consciousness. His arms and legs felt heavy, like he was buried in sand from the neck down. He scrunched his face up as he felt the pain spike, shooting from his feet to his forehead. Groaning, he shook his head slowly.

Lightheaded and in a decent amount of pain, he opened his eyes, only to be greeted by darkness. He was on his back on the cold floor, but he was sweating bullets. His mouth was incredibly dry.

"Is anyone th-there?" he whispered, closing his eyes again. The room felt like it was spinning around him. Listening for an answer, he knew that he was alone. At 51 years old and in decent shape, he felt like he was 80 and arthritic. He had to struggle to roll over and sit up.

The sounds of his movements echoed through the large, dark space. It was all he could do to keep from going insane. Usually he was so calm and collected, but he'd never been held captive before. He wondered if this was how Nick had felt when he'd been trapped in the glass coffin.

It was then that he realized that he was right below where the trapdoor had opened previously. There was a pile of stuff next to him, he could feel it when he reached out his hands. He grabbed at the stuff, and realized that some of it was food. Sandwiches in bags, maybe, a slice of cake, potato chips. Why would someone feed the person they abducted if they expect them to die? Grissom wondered. He then felt what he'd hoped was there: a bottle of water. He quickly snatched it up and opened it. Before he even sniffed it to ensure it was safe, he put it to his mouth and drank. If there was anything wrong with it, he didn't taste it. All he tasted was the lifesaving water that he was guzzling.

He sighed when the bottle was empty. He knew that if he were stuck there for anything longer than a couple of days he would need to start conserving his food and water. He reached out and attempted to feel if there was more water, and, if there was, how much was there. Twelve bottles, maybe? He decided, even so, at best it will last me four days. And then… He didn't want to think about what could happen after that. Dehydration was a horrible, slow, tortuous death, and he hoped he wouldn't have to endure it. His eyes widened. He reached down to his belt. Yes, he thought, it's still there. My gun is still there. They didn't take it.

At least now he had a way to escape, should his team be unable to find him. Relieved, his thoughts turned to Sara Sidle, the woman whom he'd shared a relationship with for the past few years. He didn't want to leave her, not by death, not any other way, not now. What would she say if she found out that he'd shot himself to end his misery in captivity?

He held his head in his hands and tried to think logically about a way to get out of the situation he was in.

!!

At the hospital, Catherine paced wildly next to her daughter's bed, watching her for any sign she was waking up. The doctors had told her that she was severely dehydrated and that they were lucky that they'd found her when they had. If she'd been left in the desert any longer, she would have died.

Nick Stokes stood outside the room, looking in at the mother and daughter. He felt awful that Lindsey had been taken captive like that, but at the same time grateful that she and Grissom were somehow connected, so if nothing else they now had a lead to go on.

"Cath?" he asked, walking into the room. She looked over her shoulder at him, sighed, and held Lindsey's hand. "Does Lindsey have a cell phone?"

"Yeah, of course she does, I need to keep track of her, don't I? Why?"

"What's her number, I think I might have a lead that will help with finding Grissom, too."

Catherine shook her head and wrote it down for him. "Tell me if anything comes of this 'lead' you've discovered." Nick took the piece of paper and left the room. Walking down the hallway toward the elevators, he pulled out his phone and called Greg.

"Sanders."

"Greg, I have a lead. Search 555-3955. See if there's any idea for a location of the cell phone that goes with that number. This is highest priority."

"Isn't that Catherine's daughter's number?"

"Just search it, Greg."

"Okay."

"I will be there soon."

Nick hung up his phone and pulled on his sunglasses as he stepped onto the elevator. It was morning and his head was swimming. Grissom had been missing for twelve hours that they knew about at that time, and he was on edge. He was having flashbacks of when he'd been held captive three years ago, and eight years ago when he'd been the target of a murderer's rage after they'd arrested her husband for a crime she'd committed.

He exited the elevator, and moments later, exited the hospital. He slid his sunglasses on and walked across the visitors' parking lot and unlocked his truck. Sighing, he looked around the parking lot, then kicked his door. How could this have happened? He thought, angrily, why us, why now, why Grissom?

He opened the door and climbed in, swearing under his breath, praying that they would find him soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Grissom had hoped that if he lied back down and closed his eyes, the lightheadedness he'd been experiencing would go away, but it seemed to only make it worse. He felt how he usually did when he donated blood, but couldn't remember having blood drawn recently. Not that it meant anything what he remembered.

He slowly felt his arms for noticeable puncture wounds where he could have been stuck with a needle, then felt his chest and neck. Sure enough, right over his jugular vein, there was a rather large hole where a needle more than likely had been recently. It was quite sore. Why was someone taking his blood?

He shook his head, trying not to think about it. He was startled when he heard a cell phone ring off in the dark. He stumbled to get up, and walked quickly toward the sound. He could see the flashing light of a cell phone's screen just a few more feet away. He reached out and grabbed it. Greg's number was flashing across the screen. His heart leapt as he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Grissom? Oh thank God, Nick was right."

"Who's phone is this?"

"Lindsey Willows'."

"Wait, what? How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but she was found with the GPS chip from your phone a couple hours ago."

"What? Is she all right?"

"She was admitted to the Desert Palms, she's in stable condition, but she hasn't woken up yet."

Grissom pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it. It had a full battery. The abductor had overlooked that. "Greg, what information have you gathered from this phone number?"

"Well, luckily Cath had a GPS chip installed in Lindsey's phone, too, but it's being obscured by something, which means you're likely deep underground or near the mountains. The signal is being refracted all over the place, we've located at least three instances of a decently strong signal from it." Grissom's heart rose further. He knew there was still a long way to go before they could narrow it down and find him, but it at least was less of a long shot now than before. "How much battery power do you have left on this phone?"

Grissom pulled it away from his ear again. There was still a full battery icon. "Much more than I had left on my own phone."

"Good. We're going to try to find you, keep the phone turned on, Griss, we'll call you again soon."

!!

Catherine sighed with relief when she got the news; Lindsey's cell phone was a direct link to Gil. As soon as she'd answered her phone, she knew. She knew in a way that only a mother could know, even being younger than Grissom. She just wished that Lindsey would wake up. Her blood pressure and pulse were both erratic, she wasn't as stable as the doctors wanted Catherine to believe.

Just to satisfy her own curiosity and worry as a mother, Catherine took a small blood sample from her daughter when there weren't any doctors in the room. She knew they would say it wasn't a good idea, but she also knew that she could sue them if something really was wrong with her daughter and they weren't helping her.

She pulled out her phone and called Warrick Brown.

"Warrick," his smooth, deep voice called out over the line.

"Hey, Warrick, it's Catherine... I-Lindsey- Can you meet me somewhere?"

"Sure, where are you?"

"Desert Palm, Lindsey's here."

"What happened? I'll be right there."

"Thanks," Catherine whispered. They hung up.

!!

Nick Stokes leaned out from the helicopter as far as they would let him, glancing quickly between the infrared camera and the scenery outside, searching for any sign that Grissom was anywhere near any of the gps signals they were picking up.

A quick flick of red and orange appeared and disappeared from his view in the goggles. He strained his eyes trying to see if he could spot what had caused it. He knew they were flying too fast and too high up for him to really see anything with the naked eye.

"HEY!" he cried, "Go back! GO BACK! I saw something!"

Greg Sanders yanked his upper body back into the helicopter and stared at him, a hopeful glint in his eye.

"LAND THERE!" Nick commanded, pointing out the side of the helicopter at a flat, vacant piece of desert.

The pilot did as Nick told him, and the squad cars that had been following them on the ground turned and followed suit. Nick jumped out of the helicopter when they neared the ground, running toward where he had seen the red and orange with the infrared.

!!

Grissom heard what sounded like an earthquake far, far above his head. He almost thought he heard a couple voices.

"Hello?" he cried, hoarsely. More of what sounded like voices. "Is someone there?"

He heard a steady thud-thud-thud, almost like someone running. He stood up. Had someone finally come to find him?

Lindsey's phone rang. Grissom pulled it out of his pocket and answered, "Grissom."

"We think we found you. We can't figure out how to get you out. We're going to get a back hoe out here."

Grissom let an audible sigh of relief escape his lips. "I know there's a trapdoor or something near the middle of this cavern. Try to find it, Nick. I'll go where I think it is and call for you."

"Got it, boss."

They hung up, and Grissom felt around in the dark for the pile of food and water bottles that had been dumped earlier. Finding it, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up to the ceiling, "NICK! SOMEBODY! I'M HERE! I'M RIGHT UNDER HERE!"

!!

Nick ran frantically around to each of the squad cars and the waiting helicopter, shouting at them to cut their engines. Jim Brass stepped out of his car and jogged over to him. "What's going on, Nick? Is he here?"

"We think so. Shh, if he is, we have to listen for him shouting. He say's there's a trapdo-" He stopped and listened. "GRISSOM?" he hollered.

"Nick." he heard a voice call. He took small steps to his right. His body was tense, every nerve focused on listening for his boss' voice. "Nick!" the voice called again, louder. Nick started to jog, listening.

"GRISSOM, I HEAR YOU, BUDDY, KEEP SHOUTING!"

"NICK! ANYBODY?!" Nick heard Grissom cry. He skidded to a stop, falling backwards onto his butt. He rolled over and pressed his nose to the sand.

"WE'RE HERE, GRISS, WE'LL GET YOU OUT!" he screamed, feeling a kind of relief he'd felt only once before: when he himself had been found. Brass ordered his men to help Nick start sweeping and digging in the area, searching for the trapdoor. Nick felt a stabbing pain in his hand as he frantically dug in the dirt. He looked at it, realizing he'd cut it on a metal hinge sticking out of the dirt.

"I FOUND IT! HELP ME!" Nick called for the officers. He then stuck his nose to the dirt again and screamed down to Grissom, "STAND BACK! WE'RE GOING TO TEST THE TRAPDOOR, IT COULD BE BOOBYTRAPPED!"

A young officer Nick didn't know came over and grabbed one of the two handles that were poking up from the dirt, Nick grabbed the other. They glanced at each other. "On the count of three, all right?" Nick commanded, "One, two, THREE--!" Both men lifted up quickly, throwing the trapdoor down to the other side and jumping away at the same time. When the dust cleared from them both hitting the dirt, they realized nothing had happened.

"Hello?" Grissom called, blinded by the sudden light.

Nick crawled over to the edge on his elbows and peered down, relieved to finally see his boss. "Hey, Grissom. Good to see you." Both men chuckled. "We have a helicopter here with a harness to get you out of there."

"Thanks, Nick. I'm proud of you."

"JIM!" Nick called, "GET THE HELICOPTER IN THE AIR TO LIFT GRISS OUT!"

"On my way!" Jim headed for the helicopter. Nick looked back down at Grissom, hanging his hand down as though he could magically extend his arm and help him climb out of the hole. Grissom and he were the only ones on the team who knew the feeling. Even though Catherine had been drugged and abducted, she didn't know the feeling of being utterly trapped and alone. Grissom extended his arm up as far as he could at Nick.

"I'm okay, Pancho. I'm okay."

Nick was shocked at how exhausted his boss now sounded, as though he'd worked four double shifts without sleep or caffeine. Nick opened his mouth to say something, but was drowned out by the noise of the helicopter now hovering above them. A rope with two harnesses lowered to Nick's level, and he quickly strapped into one as it continued to lower into the hole that Grissom was in.

Once he hit the ground, Nick threw his arms around his boss and hugged him tightly, thankful that he was all right. Grissom weakly returned the hug, his vision blurring. He fumbled to put on the harness. He felt drunk, very drunk. But not happy drunk. More of the passing out and vomitous kind of drunk. He tumbled forward against Nick as the helicopter began to lift them out. Nick realized then that the harness wasn't secured on his boss and wrapped his arms around him, trying in earnest to keep him from falling. When they reached the trapdoor, he signaled for the pilot to set them down. "SOMETHING'S WRONG!" he bellowed.


	5. Chapter 5

Gil's heart was beating out an erratic, weak beat as his feet hit the ground. Nick had realized almost too late that he was too weak to hook his harness up properly. It was one of those times both men were truly thankful that Nick had wonderful upper body strength.

When Nick let go to try and fix the harness, Gil's legs buckled and he fell to the ground.

Greg saw Grissom collapse, and rushed over to him and Nick. "Nick, what's going on?" he asked looking at Grissom. Nick shook his head in a desperate 'I don't know' gesture. Greg pulled out his walkie talkie and called out, "Dispatch, 10-71, 10-71, do you copy, over?"

"10-4, what's your location, over?"

Greg rattled off the details while Nick, having finally freed himself of the harness, dropped to his knees and began to take Gil's vitals. He wanted to be able to help as much as possible when the medics finally arrived. It was then that he noticed the swollen puncture wound on Gil's neck. "Greg, I need you to take a look at this!" he called, tugging on her sleeve.

Greg turned and looked down at the two other men. Upon seeing the puncture wound, he gasped, "My God... what have they done to you, Gil?" He ran her fingers over the wound, frowning.

"How long until we have an ambulance?" Nick asked. Greg started to reply, when Nick suddenly got angry, "and why didn't we have one to begin with?!"

"Nick, go tell Brass to watch for the ambulance." Nick started to protest, but Greg gave him a look that said 'if you don't cool it, Griss won't be the only unconscious one,' and Nick got up and headed for the group of police cars that had followed them in the helicopter. Greg turned back to Grissom and took his pulse.

His heart sank when it beat out a mere 32 beats in the minute he timed. "Hold on, please, Gil, hold on," he whispered.

Grissom coughed, but made no further action as to his suffering. Greg felt his face. He didn't know if it was possible, but Grissom was getting colder. So he felt his arms. Both were ice cold.

When the ambulance arrived, they immediately took his temperature and other vitals.

Gilbert A. Grissom

Age: 51

Pulse: erratic, 30 bpm and dropping

Temperature: 32 C

Blood Pressure: 80/65

Author's Note:

Thank you, my readers. This is the END of part one of "Flirting With Death." I am taking a much needed break from writing CSI Fanfiction, and part two of "Flirting With Death" will be ready for release between July 25th and August 29th. I cannot give a good estimation, as I also have college to finish in this time.

Again, I must express my most sincere gratitude to you, the reader. Without you, there'd be no reason to get this story out.

Thank you.


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